Thursday, July 15, 2021
Nine Days to Tokyo: A Look Inside the U.S. Olympic Swimming Medal Table Heading into #TokyoOlympics
Since swimming made its Olympic debut in 1896, U.S. swimmers have totaled 557 total medals, making the cohort of Americans just one medal shy of tripling the swimming medal total of the next-closest country (Australia, 186).
Over time, some events have been added and some have been taken away. Heading into the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, here is where the U.S. Olympic medal table stands for all swimming events that will be contested this summer:
That's a lot of hardware, and that is not even including relays.
Needless to say, the U.S. has routinely controlled swimming medal tables throughout the years.
In fact, if American swimming—that's right, just the U.S. swimmers alone—was its own country, it would rank ninth amongst all other countries competing across all sports in Olympic history.
Looking more recently, the U.S. has led each swimming medal table at the Olympics since 1992, and has totaled at least 30 swimming medals in four out of the last five Olympic games.
This year's U.S. Olympic Team will be tasked with the difficulty of keeping form with the long lineage of swimming success for the red, white and blue. If history has shown us anything, it is that our swimmers in the American flag cap will be ready to show up on the Olympic stage.
For year-by-year medal table for U.S. swimmers, click here.
Over time, some events have been added and some have been taken away. Heading into the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, here is where the U.S. Olympic medal table stands for all swimming events that will be contested this summer:
| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total | Last U.S. Medal |
| W 50m Free | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Simone Manuel (Silver), 2016 |
| M 50m Free | 5 | 4 | 2 | 11 | Anthony Ervin, (Gold); Nathan Adrian (Bronze), 2016 |
| W 100m Free | 9 | 9 | 10 | 28 | Simone Manuel (Gold), 2016 |
| M 100m Free | 13 | 9 | 8 | 30 | Nathan Adrian (Bronze), 2016 |
| W 200m Free | 5 | 4 | 2 | 11 | Katie Ledecky (Gold), 2016 |
| M 200m Free | 3 | 4 | 6 | 13 | Conor Dwyer (Bronze), 2016 |
| W 400m Free | 11 | 9 | 8 | 28 | Katie Ledecky (Gold); Leah Smith (Bronze), 2016 |
| M 400m Free | 9 | 6 | 6 | 21 | Peter Vanderkaay (Bronze), 2012 |
| W 800m Free | 9 | 3 | 3 | 15 | Katie Ledecky (Gold), 2016 |
| M 800m Free | -- | -- | -- | -- | (Event making Olympic debut in Tokyo) |
| W 1500m Free | -- | -- | -- | -- | (Event making Olympic debut in Tokyo) |
| M 1500m Free | 7 | 7 | 6 | 20 | Connor Jaeger (Silver), 2016 |
| W 100m Back | 11 | 5 | 7 | 23 | Kathleen Baker (Silver), 2016 |
| M 100m Back | 15 | 14 | 8 | 37 | Ryan Murphy (Gold), 2016 |
| W 200m Back | 4 | 4 | 2 | 10 | Maya DiRado (Gold), 2016 |
| M 200m Back | 9 | 7 | 5 | 21 | Ryan Murphy (Gold), 2016 |
| W 100m Breast | 3 | 4 | 2 | 9 | Lilly King (Gold); Katie Meili (Bronze), 2016 |
| M 100m Breast | 4 | 4 | 3 | 11 | Cody Miller (Bronze), 2016 |
| W 200m Breast | 4 | 6 | 2 | 12 | Rebecca Soni (Gold), 2012 |
| M 200m Breast | 5 | 4 | 6 | 15 | Josh Prenot (Silver), 2016 |
| W 100m Fly | 6 | 5 | 7 | 18 | Dana Vollmer (Bronze), 2016 |
| M 100m Fly | 7 | 6 | 3 | 16 | Michael Phelps (Silver), 2016 |
| W 200m Fly | 4 | 1 | 3 | 8 | Misty Hyman (Gold), 2000 |
| M 200m Fly | 10 | 5 | 5 | 20 | Michael Phelps (Gold), 2016 |
| W 200m I.M. | 2 | 4 | 6 | 12 | Maya DiRado (Bronze), 2016 |
| M 200m I.M. | 5 | 7 | 4 | 16 | Michael Phelps (Gold), 2016 |
| W 400m I.M. | 4 | 6 | 3 | 13 | Maya DiRado (Silver), 2016 |
| M 400m I.M. | 8 | 10 | 1 | 19 | Chase Kalisz (Silver), 2016 |
| W 10K | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | Haley Anderson (Silver), 2012 |
| M 10K | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -- |
That's a lot of hardware, and that is not even including relays.
| Event | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total | Last U.S. medal |
| W 4x100m Free Relay | 14 | 4 | 4 | 22 | Silver, 2016 |
| M 4x100m Free Relay | 9 | 2 | 1 | 12 | Gold, 2016 |
| W 4x200m Free Relay | 5 | 0 | 1 | 6 | Gold, 2016 |
| M 4x200m Free Relay | 17 | 5 | 2 | 24 | Gold, 2016 |
| W 4x100m Medley Relay | 10 | 4 | 0 | 14 | Gold, 2016 |
| M 4x100m Medley Relay | 14 | 0 | 0 | 14 | Gold, 2016 |
| Mixed 4x100m Medley Relay | -- | -- | -- | -- | (Event making Olympic debut in Tokyo) |
Needless to say, the U.S. has routinely controlled swimming medal tables throughout the years.
In fact, if American swimming—that's right, just the U.S. swimmers alone—was its own country, it would rank ninth amongst all other countries competing across all sports in Olympic history.
Looking more recently, the U.S. has led each swimming medal table at the Olympics since 1992, and has totaled at least 30 swimming medals in four out of the last five Olympic games.
This year's U.S. Olympic Team will be tasked with the difficulty of keeping form with the long lineage of swimming success for the red, white and blue. If history has shown us anything, it is that our swimmers in the American flag cap will be ready to show up on the Olympic stage.
For year-by-year medal table for U.S. swimmers, click here.